Machine for feeding sheet material



J. P. RENZ MACHINE FOR FEEDING SHEET IVIAIERIAL April 21, 1925. 1,534,464

Filed March 5, 192.5 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inventor.

By Attor- 1,534,464 J. P. RENE MACHINE FOR FEEDING SflE-ET MATERIAL Filed March 5, 1923 4 Sheets-$heat 2 mar April 21, 1925. samm J. P. RENZ 1 MACHINE FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL Filed March 5, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Invenun afi ga g 7 April 21, 1925. 1,534,464

. J. P. RENZ MACHINE FOR FEEDING SHEET MATERIAL Filed March 5, 1923 4 Sheet's-Shet 4 mmnuln i z w/ma Patented Apr. 21 1925.

'IIOSEPHTB. BENZ, F BROOKLYN, *NEWYGRK.

MACHINE .FOB FEEDING iSHEET METERIA-L.

Application filed March 5, 1923. Serial .110. 22,906.

To all whom it may concern:

it known that I, Josnrn P. RnNZ, a citizen of the United States, and resident of. Brooklyn, in the county of I Qings and State of N ew Zorlnlhave invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Feeding-Sheet Material, of whichthe following is alspecification.

ll/ly lilVGIllllOn relates to a machine for feeding sheet material, the object being to provide a machine of the above described class adapted to be operated by, and preferably positioned above, ,a sheet counting machine .such as the one shown :and described in Letters Patent ofthe United States, issued to me February 1,1921, No. 1,366,938,

counter and stacker for sheet material.

A principal object ofrmy present invention resides in the provlslon of automatic means,

controlled and operated by the counting machine above identified, whereby relatively thick sheets of cardboard or other material, constituting the backs or covers of blank books or tablets, may be fed forward at predetermined "intervals and dropped onto the superposed counted stacks of sheet paper as each successive stack is completed.

In thedrawings similar reference charactors are employedto designate corresponding parts throughout the views, in which 1 is a side elevation of myirnproved machine arranged above and geared in con nection with a counting machine.

Fig. 2.-is an enlarged side view of the head portion of my machine.

Fig. '3 is a plan View thereof. 1

Fig. 4: is a side view ofa counting machine and showing the automatic control for m feeding machine.

Fig.5 is a sectional elevation of the counting machine, with parts omitted, and showing the counting and 'fee'dfclutches and their connections.

Fig. 6 is a vertical cross section taken on the line 66, Fig. 5.

Fig. 7Q'is a perspective view of a holding device employed.

In the drawings 10,designates a supporting frame, carrying a feeding mechanism 11, a counting mechanism 12, and a lay board 13.

The feeding mechanism includes a frame 14:, in which lis'mounted a shaft 15, carrying a sleeve 16, longitudinally. adjustable there on, and made fast .to this sleeve area pair of .guide plates li, a pair: of forwardly directedarms =18,and afhan'dle 19.

Reyolubly mountedin the ends of thea me 1 8, is a cross shaft 20,,on.which is fizredla .ratchetQ'l, having a sleeve extension22,lpru

viding a bearing for a starter roller 23, held against longltudinal movementfby a collar 2 1, made fast to 'thesIeeVe'QQ, and ga pawlQLB, V

engaging the ratchet iiscarrie'd by the roller Shaft "20, carries a spnocket26, geared n connection with 11... sprocket 27, fixed on shaft 15, by a chain 28 andshaft also has fixed thereto a gear'Q'Qmesliing with another gear 30', formed with a sprocket 3'1, connect edvb y a chain 82, to a sprocket 33, on aclutcn shaft (34, positioned in the frame -of the counting machine 12.

Mounted in the lower part of the frame 14.15 a feed roller35, constantly driven from the power shaftf36, "by a' chain 37 passing over sprockets 38 and '39, andbearing on the feed roller 535 are. a plurality of springpressed auxiliary feed rollers 40, loosely mounted on sleeves .lhfixed to a cross shaft i l 12, and heldin place by collars a3, and this construction the auxiliary rollers may be moved along the shaft 12, and fixed at any desired location.

Freely mounted on the sleeve 16,, is a bracket 44, having an eye 15, to receive .a rod 46, which ranges forwardly over the starter roller '23, andover the paper stack 17, and carries at its free end, a :pair Of'llQlding knives 48, supported in an adjustable frame 49, the knives are so shaped that they penetrate the Itopmost sheet of the stack 147;, at the end and enter the second sheet to an extent Jsuflicient to hold the second sheet 1 against movement while thefirst ortop she'e't is beingdrawn or fed back between the .lfOll ers 35 and 40'.

The stacke'Z, of sheet material rests on a base board 50, which may be provided with suitable gauges (not shown) ,to accurately placethe stack, before the feeding operations The tripper "finger 54, operates and controls the counting mechanism 12, and'is the sameasthat shown and descrihedin thepat ent aboveidentified and I will now describq its construction a general way.

The tripper finger 54 rises and falls at each passage of a sheet of paper and operates a tripper mechanism (not shown) which in turn operates a bell crank lever 56, connected to a slidable bar 57, having a vertical stop pin 58, on which normally rests a clutch pin 59, controlling the counting machine clutch 60, carried on a shaft 61.

From one side of the counting machine project two stub shafts 62, and 63, on which are carried sprockets 64, and 65, made fast with ratchet wheels 66 and 67.

A counting control chain 68 is carried on the sprocket 64;, and a feeding control chain 69 is carried on the sprocket 65, and said chains are provided with trip cams 7 O and 71, respectively, but one of the former being shown and several of the latter, the arrangement of the cams as shown being that which is necessary to count stacks of one hundred sheets.

Slidably mounted above the stub shafts, is a slide bar 72, carrying a plate 73, to which is pivoted a push dog 74, engaging ratchet 66, and a pull dog 7 5 engaging ratchet 67, the latter dog has a tail-piece 76,

on which rests a gravity roller 77, carried on a bell crank lever 7 8, and on the other arm of the bell crank lever is carried a roller 7 9,; held in the path of the cam 70, so that at every complete travel of the chain 78, over its sprocket, the said cam will contact with roller 79 and rock the lever 78, on its pivot, thus raising the roller 77, from the tailpiece 76, permitting the pull dog 7 5 to drop into the teeth of the ratchet 67, as shown in Fig. 4.

An eccentric 80, is carried on shaft 61, to give reciprocating movement to the bar 72, through a pitman 81.

At the bottom of the counting mechanism 1 mount a shaft 82, carrying an arm 83, having a nose 84:, normally lying in the path of movement of the cams 71. and at the other end, the shaft carries another arm 85, connected to a trip lever 86, by a link 87, the lever 86 is pivoted at 86 and normally bears against a spring-pressed shoulder piece 88, mounted in a bore 89. formed in a reciprocating bar 90, mounted in bearings 91, and normally held in the position shown in Fig. 5, by a spring 92.

Carried on the shaft 34, is a feeding control clutch 93, similar in construction to the counting control clutch 60, and may be described as follows:

The bar 90, carries a vertical pin 92, underlying a radial pin 94, carried on a sleeve 95, fixed to shaft 34, which sleeve has a reduced portion 96, slotted at 97, to receive a roller 98, normally lying on a flattened portion 99, of the shaft 34, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, of the drawings, and freely mounted on the sleeve portion 96, is a constantly driven grooved pulley 100, over which a belt passes to a double pulley 101, on the shaft 61, which pulley in turn, is belted to the power shaft 36, as at 102.

The pulley 100 has an extension at one side, in which is placed a spring-pressed friction shoe 103.

The sprocket 33 is made fast to sleeve 95, and makes a full revolution each time the clutch is released.

in operation as the sheets to be counted are fed into the counting machine, one at a time, the gravity tripper finger is raised and drops as each sheet passes, the dropping action serves to release a tripper mechanism not shown here, but clearly shown and described in the patent above referred to, and as the tripper mechanism is released, it in turn releases the counting control clutch 60, permitting a full rotation of the shaft 61, and through pitman 81, operates bar 72, to rotate the ratchet 66' and sprocket 64:, one step at each passage of a sheet and this step movement is continued until the cam 7 0, contacts with roller 79, of bell crank 78, raising the gravity roller away from tailpiece of pull dog 75, permitting it to drop into a tooth of ratchet 67, and at the next operation of bar 72, ratchet 67 is given a one-step rotation and when a cam 71, on chain 69, contacts with the nose on arm 83, shaft 82 is rocked to operate trip lever 86, forcing bar 90, to the left (see Fig. 5) forcing pin 92 out from under pin 94:, releasing feed clutch 93, and permitting a full revolution of sprocket 33, which through chain 32, gears 29 and 30, and chain 28, revolves starter roller 23, forcing the topmost sheet of stack 1-7 backwardly between the constantly driven feed rollers 35, and 40, from whence the sheet is dropped onto a counted stack of paper lying on the lay board 13.

In describing the counting and feeding mechanism, it will be understood that a stack of any predetermined number of sheets may be counted before a cover or back sheet is deposited thereon, all depending upon the arrangement of the cams on the chains, and chains having different coinbinations are, of course, always at hand, so that the count of the machine may be changed in a minute by simply changing the chains.

It is thought the operation and utility of the machine will be apparent without further description, and it is understood that the structuralelements shown are susceptible to such variations and modifications as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A feeding machine of the class described disposed above and geared in connection with a counting machine, means carried by roller, constantly driven feed rollers, and

devices to engage the two topmost cover sheets to'hold the second one when the top one is drawn off, in combination with a counting machine having a clutch and means for releasing said clutch when a predetermined number of sheets have been counted, to deliver a cover sheet from the feeding machine onto said counted sheets.

3. A feeding machine comprising a frame having a starter roller and feed rollers mounted therein, holding knives contacting with and penetrating the uppermost sheet and slightly entering the one below to hold it against movement while the top sheet is being drawn or fed backward through said rollers, in combination with a counting machine having means for operating the starter roller after a predetermined number of sheets have been counted to deliver a cover sheetfrom the feeding machine onto the said counted sheets.

l. A feeding machine of the class described comprising a base board supporting astack of sheet material, a gravity starter roller resting thereon, a feed roller, auxiliary feed rollers bearing thereon, and devices to engage the two topmost back sheets to hold the second one While the top one is drawn off,in combination'with a counting machine having means for operating the starter roller at a predetermined time to deliver a back sheet onto a stack of paper previously counted. i

5. A feeding machine of the class described comprising a frame and supporting base for a stack of paper, a starter roller resting on i said paper, constantly driven feed rolls, and devices to engage the uppermost back sheets to hold thesecond sheet when the top one is drawn off, in combination with a counting machme, afeed control chain, cams arranged at intervals along said chains and means controlled by said came for operating the starter roller to deliver a back sheet from the feeding machine onto a counted stack of paper.

6. A feeding machine of the class described comprising a frame, a table to support a stack of paper, a starter roller resting on said paper, constantly driven feed rolls, and

devices to engage the two topmost sheets to hold. the second sheet when, the top one is drawn off, in combination with a counting machine including a feed control chain having cams thereon, an arm in the path of travel of the cams and means controlled by the arm for operating the starter roller to deliver a sheet of paper from the feeding machine.

'7. A feeding machine comprising a frame and a supporting board for a stack of pa per, a feed roller, adjustably arranged spring-pressed a'uxiliary feed rollers hearing thereon, a starter roller resting on said paper stack, a pair of holding knives engaging the two topmost sheets of paper to prevent the second sheet from moving while the top one is being drawn off the stack, in combination with a counting machine havingmeans for operating the starter roller to deliver a sheet from the feeding machine onto a counted stack of paper as described.

8. A feeding machine comprising feed rollers, a base board supporting a stack of paper and astarter-roller resting on said stack, and a pair of knives adapted to engage the two topmost sheets to hold the second sheet against movement when the top one is drawn off, in combination with a counting machine including a count control chain, a feed control chain operated thereby and having cams, a clutch and means con trolled by the cams for releasing the clutch to operate the starter roller to deliver a sheet of paper from the feeding machine for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof I have signed my name in the presence of the subscribing witnesses this 25th day of January, 1923.

JOSEPH P. RENZ.

Witnesses:

\VILLIAM E. Crissrny, THOMAS Down. 

